Letters to the Editor, Thursday, April 12, 2018

Taxing questions

Collier County’s proposed 1-cent sales tax increase (planned for the Nov. 6 ballot) would last seven years and raise $490 million for roads, bridges, a park, replacement buildings, capital equipment and other projects.

A selling point is that 30 percent of the sales tax would be paid by tourists and nonresidents. But what would the annual financial impact be on Collier County residents? Let’s do the math.

If 30 percent of the $490 million in sales tax revenue is paid by nonresidents, then 70 percent is paid by residents. That’s $343 million in new taxes over seven years. Assuming the sales tax revenue increases at 5 percent a year to collect the full $343 million, then $40 million would be collected in the first year. That’s an average of $115 extra for each of the 350,000 Collier County residents. Some will buy more and pay more sales tax, some less.

Collier County property values are increasing again this year. Take a house with a $250,000 taxable value, whose owners paid $2,800 in property taxes last year. If property values increase 5 percent, that would add another $140 to the property taxes next year.

Collier County is planning to add a new stormwater utility fee next year, which is expected to cost an additional $120 for an average home.

Adding all these increases together, a family of two or three people in a $250,000 house could see additional taxes and fees of between $500 and $600 next year: an increase of around 20 percent!

The next things to consider are: What would Collier County residents get for this 20 percent tax and fee increase? Are the projects worth it? Are there other, better revenue sources?

Janet Vasey, North Naples

Voting choices

If you want open borders, high taxes, no economic growth and more regulations, repeal of the Second Amendment, appeasement of our enemies and nukes in the hands of Iran and North Korea, vote for the person with a “D” after his or her name.

With this new model of health care, there will be no need to do a complete history and medical examination; a very brief encounter will suffice. A quick test and then a yes or no decision; does the patient get an antiviral medication or antibiotic or not? And, all of that expertise is acquired by the newly minted pharmacist wannabe physician in eight hours of continuing education. It’s a one-size-fits-all cookbook approach to medicine.

There should be great concern about patients who present with and have influenza or a streptococcal infection, but the tests for those diseases are negative (false negative tests). It often requires experience and judgment (as well as a thorough history and physical examination) to distinguish between those patients whose tests are truly negative from those patients whose tests are falsely negative. Results of medical tests are just one piece of the information needed to solve complex medical problems.

Likewise, some patients with influenza, particularly the very young and aged with co-morbid conditions, may require immediate hospitalization and further blood tests to detect secondary bacterial infections. It is those superimposed infections that often lead to death in influenza epidemics.

While Senate Bill 524 was “withdrawn from consideration,” it is an issue that will not die without public protest.

James F. Lally, M.D., Naples

Trump bad spokesman for faith, family

President Donald Trump spoke recently at CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) to a receptive audience. The speech was replete with red meat for his supporters, but also full of misrepresentations and some outright falsehoods. I just want to focus on a few.

I was sickened to hear this alleged sexual predator and philanderer talk of “faith and family.” He can be the poster boy for neither. His mean-spirited words, unethical deeds and shaky grasp of the truth don’t suggest a particularly religious man. His relationship with evangelical leaders is purely political. He needs their support, gives them the judicial appointments they demand and they hypocritically abandon their principles, giving him mulligans for his alleged sexual offenses.

His lack of respect for basic Christian values was apparent when he recited, not for the first time, the story of “The Snake.” The theme is: immigrants are snakes. Trump’s parents were immigrants. Two of his wives and his in-laws are immigrants. What do they think of this vile joke? It should be noted that his base loves this story and greets it with wild applause. I guess none of them have any immigrant relatives or friends. The story and those who support it are contemptible.

In his speech, he exhorted us to worship God, not government. Fine, but let’s not forget there should be a separation of church and state. We are a secular state, not a theocracy. Let’s not buy into some phony religious rhetoric spoken by a man who believes in nothing but himself. Trump on faith and family? No thanks.

Kevin McNally, Bonita Springs

Charter schools better? Prove it

As a taxpayer, I’d like to see Collier County place a moratorium on building or approving any additional charter schools until it can be shown that such schools provide a better education.

I’ve read letters that claim these for-profit schools are better but have nothing to back it up. Do these schools even provide the teachers with the salary and benefits that public schools provide? Do the students at charter schools perform better than those in the public schools on national tests? Show me some evidence that charter schools are beneficial to the students.

Currently, two Collier County School Board members are affiliated with charter schools and one, Kelly Lichter, is actually the president of Mason Classical Academy, a charter school.

This problem is worse at the national level. Betsy DeVos, the secretary of education, is a proponent of charter schools. For anyone who watched "60 Minutes" on a recent Sunday, she claimed charter schools provided students a choice, but she was unable to cite any evidence that charter schools provided a better education. Although DeVos was given ample opportunity to cite even a single example of a charter school outperforming a public school, she could not. She basically embarrassed herself.

Bill McMaster, Naples

Unabashed knucklehead

This is a response to the April 1 letter to the editor which in part refers to Second Amendment advocates as anarchists wanting RPGs, surface-to-air missiles and nuclear weapons.

I am a National Rifle Association member. Neither the NRA or I advocate RPGs, surface-to-air missiles or nuclear weapons for civilians.

My brief bio is as follows: Joined the Army at age 17; Wayne County (Detroit), Michigan, deputy sheriff; assistant prosecuting attorney; trial attorney for over 45 years; youth hockey coach; JV girls tennis coach; volunteer for many civic groups; father of three (one daughter currently a police lieutenant), and grandfather to six.

I have had extensive weapons training. I will volunteer to protect a school. Apparently, I am a “knucklehead.” Knuckleheads like me worry about the mental health of the “Marys.”

Dennis McCune, Naples

Vote out naysayers

In 1821, the German poet Heinrich Heine wrote, "Where books are burned, in the end people will be burned.”

President Donald Trump’s administration and many Republicans have invented a new kind of book burning. Their denial of climate science would make the truth-haters of previous eras proud. Scott Pruitt, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and many state governments now figuratively burn books by removing good information from websites and forbidding government officials from even discussing global warming.

The reality of global warming is not in question. Twelve studies since 2000, polling hundreds of well-recognized climate scientists, report the same finding: 97 percent agree that the Earth’s climate is changing because people are burning carbon at a very rapid rate. If current trends aren’t reversed very soon, the results will be beyond catastrophic and could threaten, essentially, all life on our planet except, maybe, for the insects.

For Republicans to deny this reality by censoring websites or claiming that “the science on climate change is unsettled” is worse than the Third Reich’s frenzy of dramatic book burnings. It’s the sort of sterile and antiseptic destruction of truth practiced only by the most cynical of people like Gov. Rick Scott who “remains unsure about climate change” even though many, many studies show that South Florida is likely to be under water within 100 years!

My friends, let us not be condemned to death by know-nothings who deny the clear conclusions of science. Vote them out, fire them and replace them with people who read books instead of burning them. The March for Science coming up on Saturday, April 14, is a perfect occasion to make our voices heard.

Michael Sales, Naples

Democrat hypocrisy

Note the hysterical, ongoing hatred for and ridiculing and bashing of President Donald Trump, the same treatment received by former GOP presidents.

Falsehoods by ex-President Barack Obama ("You can keep your doctor," "premiums will be reduced,” “I will unite the races" and more) were overlooked by most of the media. Hilary Clinton’s Benghazi involvement and email falsehoods, falsehoods by former IRS Exempt Organizations Division Director Lois Lerner, and former Attorney General Eric Holder's Operation Fast and Furious were acceptable?

Clinton should be in jail.

Democrats have succeeded in polarizing the citizenry by attacking Christianity, supporting abortions and allowing their big sanctuary cities as a home for illegal immigrant murderers, rapists and thugs. They'd love majority rule with two of their big states' popular vote erasing the Electoral College. Scrap our historic tenets of a democratic republic.

Guns confiscated "to protect people and students" are identical words used when the Democrats passed gun-free zones in 1991.

They won't compromise on anything; they are obstructionists.

Hosts of billionaire and millionaire Democrats make the party's claim to be “the party of the working man" a myth. They have controlled the big cities for decades, as millions of dollars were wasted in administration, boondoggles and corruption, keeping the poor folks dependent on federal checks and assistance (bigger government).

Need more proof? Democrats backed Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals for their immediate votes if enacted, but with reasonable stipulations involved, they are silent.

And what about our own good Democrat friends. How do they feel?

Burke Cueny, Naples

Association helps Parkinson’s patients

I am the marketing communications associate at the Parkinson Association of Southwest Florida. I recently graduated from Western Michigan University with a degree in recreation and event management. After graduation, I decided to relocate to this area to be closer to my parents as my father has suffered with Parkinson’s disease since 2008 after retiring from being an orthopedic surgeon in Northwest Indiana.

Growing up with my father having Parkinson’s disease has been life-changing for our entire family. There is nothing worse than watching someone you love being affected by such a disease. Over the years, I have grown to be passionate not only about Parkinson’s disease but about educating people about it and raising that awareness.

I remember when my father was diagnosed; the disease was something many people had never even heard of. Now, every nine minutes, someone in the community is diagnosed with the disease. It truly is a pandemic on the rise.

Seeing the impact that our local association has on people with Parkinson’s and their caretakers is absolutely inspirational. Being a daughter of a man with Parkinson's disease, I am able to see firsthand how much the Parkinson Association makes a difference in these people’s lives; many would be lost without the organization.

The Parkinson Association of Southwest Florida is more than just an organization that helps and educates people connected to the disease; it becomes a home and we are a family.

Aislinn Malayter, Naples

Handicapped parking cheaters

Recently, I left the NCH Baker Hospital Downtown following two young women who had just left the fitness center. By the time I got to the parking garage, I found them climbing aboard their Toyota parked in a handicapped-accessible parking space, adjacent to the slot I need because of my back and walking problems.

I know it is a fruitless hope, but such cheaters should feel ashamed. What can the city and county do about such misuse of handicapped parking stickers, which I notice occurs regularly in our Publix lot?